sorry i haven't posted in a long time, but *yawn* you try patrolling for 4 nights straight! it makes you really tired! and yet, my pack complains about patrolling for one night! ugh! i have to do all the work!


Chapter three: revealed

After my chat with Lee, he took me to the cabin I'd be staying in. Since they didn't know who my father was, I'd be staying in the Hermes cabin. But before he left he gave me something.

"Oh, I forgot to give you this." He said. I took the object from his hand. It was an arm bracelet. It looked like a double headed snake; the body of the snake was in two big loops for you to put your arm through.

"Thanks?" I replied, not sure what to say.

"It's not from me! When you kill a monster, a part of it is left behind, like a horn, or a skin. When you killed the Chimera, this was what was left behind." Lee informed me. Okay, that made more sense than a person I just met giving me something.

I slipped on the bracelet, and when it was around my bicep, the snakes sapphire eyes glowed, and both heads moved either up, or down my arm. I was startled, but before I could scream, the eyes were back to normal, and now the bracelet fit perfectly on my arm. That was a handy feature.

Life at camp was pretty cool. Every cabin had its own schedule, and chores to do each week. Then at the end of the week, a cabin leader (different one each time) would come around and see how clean and nice the cabin was. Luke, the cabin counsellor, informed me that the Hermes cabin did not win very often.

The archery course was really cool, but when I tried a bow, I sucked. All of the Hermes kids were much better than me. Sword fighting I was okay at, but all of the campers in the Hermes cabin could beat me in five seconds tops. I asked Luke if he could help me find a smaller sword, because the sword I was using was just too heavy for me to use properly. When we went searching, I couldn't find one that I felt comfortable with.

We tried knives too, but none of the handles felt right in my hand, so I gave up. The only thing that I was really good at was the lava wall. I beat most of the Hermes kids, but the ones that were there the longest bested me. That was understandable, considering I had just arrived at camp.

At the end of the day, I always retired to the same warm, comfy, cosy floor that I slept on. I couldn't have a bunk because they didn't know if I was a Hermes kid or not, and the bunks were reserved for his kids only. They all apologized, and I said: "It's okay, I much rather sleep on the floor anyway." NOT! I swear, if I spend one more night on the floor, my back will shatter.

At dinner, they told us that next Friday, there would be a capture the flag game. You could either join team red: Hephaestus, or join team blue: Hermes. When Chiron said our cabin name, we erupted into cheers, and woops, letting all of the cabins know we were winning this game.

I had survived week one, now let's just hope I could live through the others.

I sat in the corner of the sword fighting arena. My hair, usually confined to a pony-tail, fell free in a curtain around my body. I was watching my cabin fight. I wasn't a part of the practice first, because I didn't have a weapon, and second, there were an odd number of kids in the Hermes cabin, so I didn't have a partner.

As I sat there, Thoughts that I didn't want to think about interrupted my silent mind. How my mother was doing, if she missed me, how much I missed her, and how lonely I was. I quickly shoved the emotion that came with those thoughts back down. I didn't want my cabin-mates to see how weak I was, not to mention it was really embarrassing for someone to see you cry.

I was getting bored and needed something to get my mind off things, so I headed back to my cabin. There I switched my cut-offs for some training shorts, and pulled on a too-big camp half-blood tee-shirt.

After leaving my cabin, I headed over to the climbing wall. When I got there, I programmed it to medium. I had beaten easy many times and today I wanted a challenge.

When I finally beat medium, I saw the Apollo cabin coming over. They had scheduled their wall-time now, so I went for a jog.

Running was always easy for me. It was a uniformed activity that helped me think. So as I ran, I let my mind wander. I found myself thinking about the conversation id had with Luke the week before.

"Luke, what's in the Big House attic?" I had asked

"That's where the oracle is," he said the word oracle as if it was poisonous. "There are also things people collect on their quests."

"Like what things?"

"Scarves, bracelets, prizes from the monsters you kill, weapons…"

I snapped out of my rumination, and made a beeline for the big house. If I was a child of Hermes, I had to learn how to steal things right?

Upon getting there, I sneaked up to the attic, pulling the ladder that led to the attic down soundlessly. I climbed up hastily, I had to make this quick before I got caught. When I reached the top, I almost gagged at the smell. It was obviously coming from the oracle, or what I guessed to be it.

The oracle had certainly seen better days. She was partially rapped in mummy-like bandages. The people wrapping her had either given up, or the bandages had disintegrated from age.

She was really starting to freak me out, so I moved on to the table full of items. I found some pretty cool stuff. Dragon claws, a sleeping potion, the horn of some animal, even a giant tooth. Then my eyes stumbled upon what I was looking for.

A bone handled knife lay abandoned on the table, covered in dust and cob-webs. I was just reaching for it when I heard voices from the hallway.

"Who left the attic's hatch open?" asked a female voice.

"Why are you looking at me like that?! It wasn't me!" a voice answered, this one distinctly male.

I could have sworn I heard the girl roll her eyes, and then she started climbing up the latter. I dove for cover. Behind my hiding place, I saw the girl poke her head up.

"Anyone in here?" she asked. When there was no reply, she muttered something under her breath before closing the hatch.

Damn! I thought, there goes my escape route. ThenI lumbered over to the table and picked up the knife. The tag read:

Quest: The Dead King

Item: Stygian-iron knife

By: James Di Rose

1927

The Dead King. That name sent shivers up my spine. Still, I looked more closely at the knife, dusting off it handle. Written on it in ancient Greek was Efialtis, Nightmare.

It was then that I heard more voices from the hallway.

"You're going to go up to the attic, and ask the oracle about your destiny."

Oh crap! Someone's coming up! I quickly ripped the tag off nightmare, and tied it to my belt. I had about two seconds to find an escape route.

My eyes scanned the room, landing on the window. I dashed over to it, and shoved it open. I was just slipping through the opening when the hatch opened. I jumped onto the roof, and then slammed the window shut, ducking under it so I wouldn't be seen.

I scrambled off the roof and went back to my cabin. I grabbed one of my shirts at random, and cleaned my new knife. The blade was inky-black, and extremely sharp. I was proud with what I found, the hilt fit perfectly in my hand. I tied it back onto my belt and felt much better knowing I had something to defend myself with.

I headed back to the sword fighting arena so I could practice with my new blade. When I got there, everyone in my cabin was leaving to go to the next activity. I quickly found Luke.

"Luke, do you think you could stay behind and teach me some fighting maneuvers, I got weapon I can actually use."

"Sure, we do need everyone ready for capture the flag tonight." He answered.

I practiced the rest of the day with Luke and felt very confident when I headed to the dining pavilion for dinner. We had a hearty meal of steak, pizza, and a Greek salad. When we had all finished eating, Chiron got up and told us what the teams were.

"For the red team, we have the Demeter cabin, the Aphrodite cabin, and the Dionysus cabin. For the blue team," he was interrupted by a chorus of cheers. When the noise calmed down, he continued, "We have the Ares cabin, the Athena cabin, and the Apollo cabin. Now, remember, no killing or intentional maiming, all magical items allowed. Suit up, at the sound of the horn the game will begin."

At his word, the dishes from dinner disappeared and in their place were armor and weapons. I found some leather armor that looked like it would fit and suited up. I strapped Nightmare to my belt, and grabbed a bow and arrow just in case.

Then I followed the blue team to our side. I was told I was on offense, so I took a place near the river where no one would be able to spot me. I felt the excitement of an oncoming fight. All my nerves were buzzing with energy, and for the first time in a long time, I felt alive.

I heard the horn go off, and then I dashed over to the other side. I had only made it about ten meters when someone spotted me and threw their spear at me. I was so surprised, I fell on my face. Now I was pissed, more at myself than the person, but still, the anger fueled my energy. I got back on my feet, got Nightmare and spun to face the person who had tripped me.

They had their sword un-sheathed, and they were poised in a defensive position. They quickly swiped at me with their sword, but I dodged. After ducking, I got close and took a stab of my own. They parried my throw and lunged. I quickly side-stepped and knocked their feet out from under them.

I scampered away, scouting for the flag. All around me I heard the clash of swords, and the battle cries. I saw an Ares kid throw their knife and a kid from Hephaestus matrix doge it. Damn, that was cool. I had to learn how to do that! I saw a Demeter kid grow vines around an Athena camper, and then the Athena camper slashed the vines and knocked the Demeter kid off her feet, only to turn to three more opponents waiting.

I passed more people before coming to a rather deserted area. Then I saw the flag. It was orange with the design with a picture of a flame with two hammers crossed over top of it. I almost whooped in victory when I remembered I had to be quiet. I was just about to head for the flag when someone dropped down in front of me. It was a big beefy Hephaestus guy, and he had a gigantic hammer. I think I may have whimpered. I quickly grabbed for Nightmare, but once I got it, it was knocked out of my hand. Then he hit me with his hammer, sending me sprawling.

I gasped, trying to get the air back into my lungs. My side hurt, but I still got to my feet. I felt my side and was pretty sure I had broken a rib. I looked around to find Nightmare and found her(yes, I decided my knife was a her) a little ways away. I quickly went over to her and grabbed the hilt. I was scared to face my opponent again, but I did anyway. I would NOT give up.

"You know, that really hurt." I said

"It's capture the flag little miss sunshine. You're going to get hurt." He replied nastily.

Little miss sunshine? I hated him. I voiced my opinion, "I really hate you."

"Do you really think I care?" he asked.

The answer was no, but there was no way in Hades that I was going to tell him that. I gave my best battle cry and charged. This time when he swung his hammer, I dogged. I came up behind him and jumped on his back. Just like a rodeo bull, he started bucking, and I held on for dear life. He tried reaching behind him to get me off, and that was just the thing I needed to put his balance off.

He tumbled over, and I jumped off his back and ran up to the flag. I grabbed it and ran like hellhounds were on my trail. When my tem saw me running they gave woops of joy. I was just about to cross the border when I got tripped… AGAIN! And by the same person too.

"You're really starting to get on my nerves." I told the Demeter kid facing me.

Then I lunged at them. They side-stepped and lunged at me, I parried their attack, and then stabbed forward with the flags poll, knocking her into the river. I surged forward, stabbing the flag-pole downwards to be used as a catapult.

As I crossed the river, the flags design changed. But it wasn't the Hermes symbol I was staring up at.

The flag had started glowing gold, and had the design of a sun in it. In the sun were an eye, and a bow with an arrow notched. Everyone gasped, and I knew I had been claimed.

My godly parent was Apollo.


R&R guys! if you review, ill give you cake! well, now im going to go to bed, goodni-*explosion*

damn! Sebastian! couldn't you have used the front door?!

Sebastian: would you have used the front door for me?

no.

Sebastian: exactly!

Sebastian, you don't have a front door.

Sebastian: ... well you know what?! deal with it!

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